10 million-acre land use study panel starts work

BANGOR — A panel that will study how development will be regulated in Maine’s 10 million-acre Unorganized Territory is starting its work.

The Land Use Regulation Commission reform panel holds its first work session today in Bangor. Meetings are expected to be held every two weeks.

The 13-member study panel was formed through a legislative directive amid questions about whether the present Land Use Regulation Commission should be dismantled or reformed. It will have three months to prepare recommendations for the Legislature.

Critics have charged that the study group is stacked with members hostile to LURC in its present form.

But state Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley calls it “a capable, experienced task force with a lot of collective knowledge about land use in the unorganized townships.” Beardsley chairs the group.

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